Barry's birthday and 1st place

I have been baking since Thursday! What a crazy weekend. I started Barry's birthday cake on Friday, and I encountered MANY technical challenges. I decided to decorated the cube in dark chocolate ganache, and dyed it black (took 4 bottles of black to colour it). what I should've done was use white chocolate and colour it. Also, someone suggested freezing the cake before putting on the ganache, so when the cake thawed, all the squares started to fall off. AND the cake you see wasn't the original cake, but the off cuts. had many heart-stopping moments with this one, but I learnt alot in the process. Its not perfect, but it was delicious :)

Then of course there was more cake drama in the car when we swerved to avoid a dog (Bless Karl's heart!) and because the squares kept slipping! But we got it there in one piece, even if it wasn't perfect! Barry thought he was meeting Harps for a nice, quiet, romantic dinner, but instead he got all 7 of us! We went to Christina's and Mark's after for cocktails and a boardgame called smartass - loads of fun!

birthday boy

On Friday night I decided to test a red velvet cupcake recipe for a cupcake competition my MIL entered me for. The first batch flopped because Sinead's scale was wonky and we didn't put in enough flour (thats my story and i'm sticking to it!). So after an afternoon of horse-riding lessons, failed cupcakes and a dinner of ribs and burgers with Karl, Sinead and Hugh. I rushed home to find a new recipe and tried again. They came out perfectly!

I went for a pink, silver, white and creamish(?!) theme for the competition.

And.... i won!!!! :D

doesn't that look like a military medal? lol! just saying...

Then yesterday, even though I was as sick as a dog, my boss's partner asked me (and paid me) to bake him a cake for today (his birthday). 

lemon drizzle cake and coffee and walnut cupcakes for my boss

So now I am all-baked out until Friday, when i have another birthday cake (on order!) to bake and decorate.

This really wasn't intended as a baking blog, but it seems to be turning into one. i will try add some more diversity over the next few weeks... promise.

PS. Our architect (yes, we have an architect - lol!) has drawn up a very rough outline of what we want for the house. We have to put up a temporary fence around the property for when the planners come around to ok everything, so this weekend I'll be learning a different skill: putting up sheep fences! I am really turning into a country wife!

Jubilee weekend

We have just had a four day weekend. Its been wonderful. I stayed home on Friday and finished the decorations for Keira's christening cake (will post pics next week) and then spent the rest of the day in the sun. On Friday night, we went to Joanne and Willy's for Chinese. On Saturday we slept late, which was much needed. I did a whole lot of washing, including washing my car! Karl and his father managed to make some kind of suspension contraption in the garage so that our sofas are not leaning on each other ( forgot to take pics). On Sunday, Mark and Christima and Barry and Harps came down, to see the Olymoic torch. It passedat the bottom of the road, and we waited in anticipation, I must say I was disappointed, I dunno what I expected?! A bigger torch maybe?

Anyway, after that the 8 of us went out for a yummy dinner at Harry's. When we got home, we set the fire, poured some wine, put on our pjs and were subjected to anotehr quiz. It was so much fun though and competitive as always. We fell into bed at 2am. We spent Monday infront of the fire watching tv. And while the boys were away, playing golf, the 4 ladies watched the Help. Harps, Christina and I have read the book and we were eager to see it. So Karl hooked up the laptop to the tv and we thoroughly enjoyed it. 

On Monday evening, Karl and I went up to Belfast for a braai at Orna and Enda's place. We met some really cool and interesting people. And got home just before midnight. 

Today, Christina, Mark, Karl and I started interval training for running. It was all going very well until Christina fell. She already has a weak ankle, which she hurt a couple of months ago. So Mark had to run home and get the car and fetch her. So today was mostly spent reading and watching tv as if started to rain a bit. We also got my mother-in-laws 60th birthday party plans sorted.

I am flying to England tomorrow morning, to meet my good friend Clare and her bump :) On Friday I head off to Ellesmere Port (near Chester) to see the Bellis-Jones' and my precious goddaughter, Keira Lilly. I am so excited. Now I just need to do my hair and pack.

I might be off the radar for a week or so, but will update when I get back. xx

Birthday weekend part 1

Wow, what a weekend! I’m exhausted and at work and wish I was in bed. Friday night turned into Saturday morning. We went to pick up Sinead and Hugh, and then went over to the boy’s boss’s boss’s house for a pizza before our night out. After pizza we headed out to Belfast, to The Duke of York. Its a really big pub, and is very unusual.

The party was called a 70^th, because Hugh turned 30 and his colleague turned 40, so they just decided to have one big party.

After meeting everyone, Sinead and I headed up stairs for a bit of dancing and then joined the rest of them a bit late. We even had springboks .

 So anyway, after an awesome night out, we finally arrived home at 4am! Yes, 4am. I slept for 4 hours and got up at 8am to start a crazy day of baking. By Saturday evening, I was fed up! Harpinder was a great help and tidied up behind me and just generally kept me sane. The cake did turn out really good, despite some technical difficulties and the fact that the top 2 layers were too heavy for the light chocolate sponge at the bottom, did my best to cover it up with decor though!

Had to make a small cake for Christina, who is gluten-intolerant.

We had quite a spread: scones, quiche, cake, cupcakes, cheese and crackers etc.

I thought I had made too much food, but after the 20 or so people spend yesterday afternoon grazing, there really wasn’t much left. I invited everyone over fo tea and cake at about 3pm yesterday, an the last of them left at around 8pm.

opening gifts

 Got some really cool gifts, including these beautiful tulips!

I had a quick bath and got things ready for today, and then we headed down the road with Harps and Barry to have dinner and watch our Sunday night South African show, Wild at Heart. Been awake since 4am, probably a sugar high!

Really had a good weekend!

xx